Love and Blues
by Nanika
Summary: After the death of his colleague, Spike Spiegel, Jet Black returns to Ganymede, where some of his best and worst memories were created. And as the world seems to fall apart, he finds an old friend in need of his help...
1. Default Chapter

          Hey, and thanks for reading into my second fic on the net.  Although my first isn't finished yet (a Peach Girl slice called Fallen Angel), I've decided to jump into my next fic, which happens to be a Cowboy Bebop.  I hope you enjoy it!  Again, any questions, comments, concerns, write me.  XxManifestDestinyxX@yahoo.com, and leave a review!  Thanks!

Love and Blues

          The blades sliced through the air, winking downward at the sole inhabitant of the room.  Jet stared upward, watching the fan's continual revolution.  He sighed, closing his eyes.  There were no playful games anymore or leisurely viewings of Big Shot on the old television.  Edward and Ein were gone, and Spike…his more trusted colleague and friend…was dead to the world but very much alive in the utopia of true honor.  It was on the news, Spike's death, and Vicious' demise.  Sometimes Jet was not able to tell who the reporters and citizens made out to be the villain, Spike or Vicious.  After much talk, Jet and Faye had made a joint decision not to retrieve Spike's body from Mars.  Mars was his home, and where his heart was.  As they left Spike's planet, Jet made the decision to return to Ganymede.  His home.  It would be good to see some of his old ISSP buddies again.

          "Jet?" Faye said quietly, leaning against the doorframe of the living room, "Would you like something to eat?  I'm making dinner."

          "Whatever you make is fine," Jet replied, still staring up at the spinning fan blades.

          Faye stayed in the doorway, staring sadly over to where Jet laid on the yellow couch.  He wasn't taking Spike's absence well.  He never showed how he felt, but his bonsai cried out for care that Jet hadn't felt the heart to give them.  Faye disappeared back to the kitchen.

          Jet glanced to where Faye had stood a moment earlier, light eyes grazing the doorframe.  She had become much more helpful since Spike's death, cleaning and cooking for Jet and herself.  She claimed that she did it so that he could finally relax, but Jet knew she did so to keep herself busy.  She was crying now, in the kitchen.  He could hear the soft echo of weeping in the empty ship.  She cried at night, too, when she thought no one could hear her.  Jet always heard, though.  He wanted to assure her that things would be alright in the end.  But he would hardly be able to convince her if he couldn't even convince himself.


	2. Love and Blues 2

Note from author:  Hey guys!  For the few of you that read my story, thanks so much for checking it out!  A quick personal note for kitten, I'm really sorry about the short chapters, but with Bebop, I just have a really hard time writing.  My writing is the same as the anime.  If that anime is shallow and petty, so is my writing, and it's really easy to write a bunch of it at once and post it up (good example: my Peach Girl story).  But if it's as detailed and…as "wow" as Cowboy Bebop, I have a really hard time creating what I want for a great story like that.  Through my excuses, I hope that you enjoy the continuation of Love and Blues, though.

          The trip through the Gates felt very long, the large vessel slipping silently through the realms of space.  Although only two days had passed, the time felt eternal.  There was no bickering, mischief, or silly songs to fill the large ship.  He didn't have to crank up the volume when he watched for the newest bounties or yell over the racket that the younger pair of bounty hunters made as they argued.  The only complaint of hunger came from his own stomach.  There was no pomp and circumstance.  The Bebop was dead.

          Faye would move aimlessly about the ship, finding odd things to do with her time.  She cleaned rooms that Jet hadn't even gone into since he bought the Bebop.  She showered about three times a day, only moderately complaining about the lack of hot water because she knew that she was the one that had used it all.  Occasionally, she just sat on the living room floor and smoked.  The bluish haze would float up and mingle with the light.  There was frequent small talk between the two about how quiet the ship was, but nothing was said about the three members of the spacecraft that were gone.

          It was probably all for the best.  And as jet landed the Bebop in the large bay outside of his previous home, he knew that he had made the right choice in coming here.  Something inside himself told him so.


	3. Love and Blues 3

          Hey again to my readers!  I thank those of you who have reviewed me, and to those of you who haven't…what's wrong with you?!  LoL.  Just kidding!  Again, I apologize for the how slow-moving my story is going, but I'm managing to keep up my grades as I write.  I'm introducing a new character this chapter, who will unfold as I go.  Enjoy!

          "One or two, Miss Tamaroko?"

          "Two will be fine," the woman responded, taking out her purse.

          "Cleaned, as I recall?" he said with a smile.

          "You assume right," she replied, taking out her money reader, scanning it.

          "I haven't seen you in a while, Miss Tamaroko.  Have you been eating imported meat again?" he said, joking accusingly.

          She laughed at his joke, waiting patiently for her fish as he flaked the scales off and gutted it.  His worn, calloused hands placed the pale meat on dark brown paper, wrapping it in a careful fold.

          "Here you are, Miss Tamaroko," he said amiably, nestling the small package down among the other contents of her basket.  "You're planning a nice meal for your boyfriend tonight, yes?"

          The woman shrugged with a smile, causing the old fisherman to grin.  "Something like that," she replied.

          "I wish my wife would do nice things like that for me.  She's got four children to take care of, though.  Ah, well.  Come back soon, Miss Tamaroko!"

          The woman nodded and waved as she left, moving slowly through the marketplace.  The sunlight wove itself into her chestnut hair and glowed in her honey hazel eyes.  Boyfriend.  Ha.  It had been a long time since she'd been in love with anyone.  After leaving the ISSP, she had been moving from place to place, wanting to settle, but not wishing to cause a disturbance.  Or get caught.  With a bounty on her head and the ISSP on her back, it would only be a matter of time before she would have to leave Ganymede, too.

          Leaving any other place would be a breeze, but here…Ganymede was where she'd had some of her best ISSP days.  They had a base on this moon of Jupiter, the ISSP, but they were so worried about other galactic affairs that they hadn't even noticed her presence yet.

          Luckily, she had everything she needed here.  A decent place to live.  Good food.  Excellent trafficking.  Not nearly the amount of business she got on Mars.  On Mars there were druggies everywhere.  They would offer her anything for a hook-up.

          She moved past the market with her basket and climbed the outer metal stairway that led to her apartment on the sixth floor.  Once at the top of the winding stairway, she leaned against the railing and stared out over the city.  People weaved up and down the open streets like ants as, further in the distance, a parade of multi-colored cars paced their route along the expressway to a musical fanfare of distant honks and revs.

          She sighed deeply.  Abandoning such a wonderful planet would make her heart ache for security.  Just like it had ached the first time she left.


	4. Love and Blues 4

Alright, here we go, guys.  The longest chapter in Love and Blues yet!  This is for those of you that wanted longer chapters.  I hope this one kind of makes up for what I'm missed out on before!

          The Hammerhead flew leisurely through the air, so low over the water that the occasional wave would reach up and kiss the underside of the small craft.  This was Jet's favorite way to ride.  It was an impossibility with the Bebop, due to its enormity, but Jet's personal craft, the Hammerhead, was much smaller, and agile enough to maneuver through the waters.  He rarely flew like this because he never seemed to have the time to have any fun for himself.  He found that he was always trying to keep Spike and Faye out of trouble and keep Ed and Ein entertained.  All while he did the cooking, cleaning, and maintenance.  But now…now he had all the time in the world.  He could stop thinking about everyone else and start thinking about himself.  The thought made him feel sad and extremely selfish.

          Jet pulled up from the water and cruised over the expressway, lowering the Hammerhead down into a back street.  He turned it off and got out, taking out a cigarette.  He smoked it, staring up past the dark rooftops into the Ganymede sky.  He wondered whether any of his old ISSP buddies still lived here, or where they might be.  He walked through the alley, remembering an old pub he used to go to after work when he was based here.

          The Blue Glass was fairly empty the night that Jet arrived.  There was a small group of musicians playing on the corner stage under dim lights.  A saxophone glistened as it hummed out a sad tune while a clarinet and trumpet backed it up.  Jet sat up on a bar stool, watching the occupants of the pub.  There was an older couple tucked away in a dark corner.  Occasionally the man would laugh, breathing personality into his shadowed form.

          There was one other man in the pub.  A middle-aged man with thinning hair sat beneath a hanging lamp.  He held a tankard of beer in his right hand and a smoldering cigarette in his other.  The hazy smoke drifted upward, lingering about the dim lamp.

          "He's a stressed out guy, Mac.  Just lost his job and doesn't know how to tell his wife."  Jet turned, meeting eyes with the bartendress.  She smiled, drying a glass with a small white towel.  "What'll it be, Mac?"

          "Just give me a beer or something," Jet said, studying the woman, "I've had a long life."  She chuckled, turning to fill a tankard for him.  Her long red hair was held back by a loose ribbon that matched her dark emerald skirt.  She wore a white blouse that was unbuttoned to just above her breasts, and her sleeves were rolled up to just below her elbows.

          "You feel like talkin' about it?" she asked, setting the tankard down on a cork coaster in front of him.

          He smiled wanly.  "I'm thirty-six.  It would be a long story."

          The woman leaned on the bar.  "I'm a good listener."

          Jet shook his head, taking out a pack of cigarettes.  "You care for a smoke?" he asked, holding the pack out to her, shaking one halfway out.  She took it and Jet offered his light to her before he lit his.

          "What's someone like you doing working here, anyways?" he asked, watching the smoke curl from the end of his cigarette.

          "I gotta make a living as much as you do," she replied, "What are you, anyways?  ISSP?"

          "Used to be," Jet replied.  "I left after this happened."  He held up his arm, wiggling his fingers for her.

          "Why don't you get regenerative surgery?" she asked, inhaling on her cigarette.  "They're probably really cheap now."

          "Faye said the same thing," he replied, tapping the ashes into a glass ashtray.

          " 'Faye'?  Girlfriend?"

          "No," he replied.  "Companion is all."

          As she continued to talk, Jet realized what it was about her that was to attractive to him.

          "Hey, listen.  Where're you from?  What's your name?" he asked, leaning in to her to make sure he caught her answer.

          "One question at a time, Mac!" she said with a grin.  She snubbed out the dead cigarette in the ashtray and reached to the pack.  "You mind?" she asked, taping the box.  He shook his head, taking out his light again for her.  She inhaled shortly before answering his question.  "I'm from a little place on Mars called London Town.  I remember it as a British Tokyo."  She chuckled, tapping her cigarette.  "I stayed there until I was eighteen, which was right after the death of my parents.  I hopped from place to place, wanting a finality more than anything.  So I ended up here.  Great moon.  Ganymede is one of my favorite places yet."

          "Mine, also," Jet replied, "But I hate it, too.  It's where my real life started and also…"

          "Where it ended," they said at the same time, Jet's voice low as the woman behind the bar whispered.

          "What is your name?  You remind me of someone I met in the ISSP a long time ago.  Nadie Tamaroko.  She probably still lives here.  Do you know her?  She has an accent like you do."

          "Whoa, Mac.  Stop.  I don't know this Nadie, I don't think.  My name is Inki."  She hesitated.  "But if I happen to meet her someday, can I give her your name?"

          "Jet Black," he replied, "Bounty hunter.  Former ISSP."

          She nodded.  "If I meet this girl of yours, I'll be sure to relay your message to her."  Inki smiled as Jet stood up to leave.  "Come back soon, alright?  I really enjoy your company."

          Jet nodded.  "I will.  Thank you, Inki."  With that, he left, his untouched beer left to gather condensation on the bar.

          Inki walked down the dark streets toward her apartment building.  She yawned and rubbed her eyes a little as she saw the building at the end of the block.  She climbed the metal stairway outside of the building up to the sixth floor, where she turned around, watching the expressway.  Each car was a ghost, displaying a phantasma of multi-colored light as they cruised along.  She unlocked the door to her apartment and stepped in, locking the many constraints on the door before leaving it.  She walked tiredly over to her bed, pulling back the covers.  She reached up, fingering her red curls absently before taking the wig off and shaking her chestnut hair free.  She fell into bed, still in her nice clothes, murmuring quietly.  "Nadie, my girl, you found Jet.  No…the Black Dog…found…_you_……"  
  


Thanks for reading this chapter, you guys, and I'm really glad that a couple of you are following this!  My net was down yesterday, so I couldn't post chapter three, so you guys get a double-dose today!  Yay!  LoL.  I'm really excited about all this, because it's starting to all fall into place.  If my writing wasn't clear, Miss Tamaroko (Nadie) and Inki from the bar are the same woman.  I don't know if I was clear or not on why she can't settle (can't remember!  My fried brain is being eaten by middle schoolers).  If I haven't, that'll come in due time.  Again, thanks so much for reading!!!


	5. Love and Blues 5

          Note: Alright, you guys…chapter five is another short one.  Sorry if I got your hopes up with chapter four.  LoL.  But when I do short chapters, it's basically flipping between characters (a.k.a., Jet and Nadie/Inki).  Ah, anyways.  I hope you like this one, even though it's short.  A couple quick, shameless messages from your local fanfic writer are as follows:  My Peach Girl story, Fallen Angel, sucks (I think), but if you want to check it out, new developments are coming to make it better (I hope.  LoL).  I got the movie Spirited Away (by Hayao Miyazaki, the creator of Princess Mononoke), and it's completely amazing (I happen to be an avid Alice in Wonderland fan, though).  To celebrate its awesomeness, I've started writing a Spirited Away fanfic, too, that I'm really looking forward to getting up on this website.

Thank you for listening to the ranting announcements.  Now, on to chapter five.

          Jet sat on the floor, leaning against the yellow couch, smoking absently.  His mind was very obviously somewhere else as Faye walked into the room.

          "Jet?  Coffee?" she asked, moving closer to the couch.  He continued to smoke, staring off past the ceiling fan.  Faye set the steaming mugs on the table, turning again to Jet.  She smiled sadly at the man that sat spacing out on the floor.  She gently placed her hand on his bald head, breaking him out of the trance.  She tried to smile.  "I know…I miss them too, Jet."  Her voice wavered as much as her half smile.

          Jet shifted, taking something from his pocket.  "I brought this back for Ed," he murmured, handing it to Faye.  A little blue toy squid smiled up at her, and she squeezed it.  "Fish is delish!" it said cheerfully.  Tears formed in the corners of Faye's eyes, and she held onto it tighter.  "Eeek!  Don't eat me!" the toy squeaked cutely.

          A sob escaped the clutches of Faye's throat and she turned away from Jet.  "I'll go put it in her room with the rest of her souvenirs," she said quietly, leaving the room.

          Jet watched her go, smoke curling upward from the tip of his cigarette.  He snubbed it out, taking up his cup of coffee.  Faye always made a good cup of joe.  She spent half her life being drunk.  The other half was spent drinking coffee and taking pain pills for her hangover.  The thought almost made him laugh.  But he really hadn't laughed much since Ed had left.  Whenever he laughed with her, however, he was always the confused one.  He missed them all…even Ein.

          Memories of Spike started forming in his head…the way he would never ask to have his Swordfish repaired, and the way he looked when Jet fixed it up for him.  The time that Faye sat in the living room and patched him up when he was hurt after a fight with Vicious.  The way he would complain about the beef and bell peppers when they were short on cash.

          He shifted his thoughts quickly to the woman he met that night at the bar.  Inki.  She seemed to have troubles of her own.  Finally perhaps someone else could understand how he felt.  He didn't expect her to fill the emptiness he was feeling, but maybe she could point him down the right path.

          "I watered your bonsai, Jet.  They looked thirsty," Faye said, sitting on the couch with her coffee.

          He got up and headed out of the room.  "Don't bother.  They're probably dead anyways.  That seems to be the popular trend around here."


	6. Love and Blues 6

          Hey to the few people who are actually still interested in reading this story.  Haha…  *sweatdrop*  I've been really busy working on my newest story called Where the Wild Things Are.  It's a Spirited Away fic that's coming along quite nicely, if I do say so myself, and if you've been privileged enough to see Spirited Away, I think you'll enjoy my story (if you choose to check it out).  So, although I had hoped I could prolong this story a bit more, I'm finishing it up during this chapter.

-

          Inki perched on the bartop, starting around the empty pub.  Her legs were crossed, and she leaned her elbow on her knee, contemplating the Blue Glass.  If business stayed this way, she would have to close up for good.  She tapped her cigarette as the glass bells over the door signified an entry.

          "Jet," she said in welcome as she continued to smoke.

          He sat in the stool next to her crossed legs.  "What are you doing up there?" he asked, taking out his cigarettes.

          "Dancing," she said, exhaling as the cigarette smoldered between her fingers.

          He chuckled quietly.  "You used to be a dancer?"

          She shrugged, red hair falling past her shoulders.  "I wanted to dance professionally.  But that was a long time ago.  As age comes, childish fantasies go.  What did you want to be, Jet?  As a child?"

          "A law enforcer.  I've always wanted to be who I am today."

          "You're lucky.  It's impossible to put together the fragments of a lost dream again."

          "Why do you say that?" Jet replied quietly, meeting her eyes.

          "Things happen, Jet.  Things that can't be reversed even if you want them to be."  Her voice was sad, her eyes soft.

          Jet was silent as he stared off, the ceiling fan whizzing overhead, scattering the tendrils of smoke into nothingness.  He knew that when opportunity knocked, one was supposed to throw open the door and grab it, but he wasn't sure about this one.  With this opportunity, he felt like hiding or jumping out the window.  Even though he felt like running, this was an opportunity worth taking.

          He stood up and wrapped his arms around Inki, gently lowering her from the bar where she sat.  He held her small form tightly against his.  He rubbed a hand over her hair, taking the red wig off.  He ran his hand through her hair, lowering his face to it.  "Nadie, please come with me.  It's so lonely traveling in space."

          Nadie's cheek was pressed to Jet's chest, tears slipping from her eyes.  She was speechless, biting her lip to quiet herself, but Jet could feel the way she trembled.

          "I know you're scared," he murmured, "But I want to help you, Nadie.  Partners never give up on each other."

          The woman remained silent, her mind on overload.  Jet squeezed her gently.  "I saw you on Big Shot, Nadie."

          "Damn," she muttered, sniffling.  "The Black Dog got me.  How long have you been after me, anyways, Jet?"  She lifted her face to meet his eyes.  "How much is on my head?"

          He touched her face softly, feeling her smooth skin beneath his fingertips.  "I don't remember, Nadie.  I just know that you're in trouble, and I want to help you.  Will you let me…?"

          She was silent, then walked to the door, flipping the sign in the window as someone was walking in.  "I'm sorry," she said.  "We're closed."  She took Jet's hand.

          Faye walked up the steps to the Bebop, yawning slightly.  "Jet?" she called, glancing around the living room.  "Hm.  He's asleep already?"  She walked down the corridor and cracked open his door, peeking in.  The room was dark and empty, but something caught Faye's eye.  She turned, her arms wrapping around her midsection, her head tilting to the side.  Jet's bonsai were perfectly groomed under the bluish glow of fluorescent lights.  She smiled in the evanescent silence and closed the door behind her.

-

          Alright…how was that?  Hopefully not too bad for being my first Bebop story.  Ah, well.  I guess that I'd better high-tail it over to the Peach Girl section and work on finishing off my Fallen Angel story, too, so I can get back to work on my Spirited Away story without feeling guilty about leaving the other two out in the cold.  Thanks for reading, and I hope you take a little time and give it a review!  E-mail me with questions or comments!  XxManifestDestinyxX@yahoo.com.  See you, space cowboy.


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